useless facts

[Jimbuna]

In all of human history, about 100 billion people have died.

[Platapus]

There is some disagreement on who actually made the first powered flight, but official records list the Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier than air powered and controlled aircraft on December 17, 1903.

But was it really a controlled flight?

The first four flight durations were not controlled by the desires of the pilot but the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft.

The first three flights of 12, 12, and 15 seconds all ended when the plane impacted the earth -- not when the pilot decided to end the flight. On the fourth flight of 59 seconds, the flight ended up by impacting the earth and damaging some of the flight surfaces.

Additionally, on all four flights no attempts were made to turn the aircraft due to aerodynamic instability.

It was not until 20 Sep 04, almost a year after their first flights when a different aircraft was capable of executing turns without crashing.

By that time Richard Pearse from New Zealand had made several flights in front of different witnesses.

But then when discussing a technological "first" determining who truly was first of often a matter of viewpoint and who is doing the recording.

[Jimbuna]

The tallest snowman was built in 2008 in Bethel, Maine. The snowman, nicknamed “Olympia”, was 37.2 meters (122 feet) tall.

[Platapus]

"I will be there in a shake"


Well if you tell that to a nuclear engineer or an astrophysicist then you would be there in about 10 nano seconds

[Jimbuna]

The first artificial snow was created in March of 1949, by Wayne Pierce, Art Hunt, and Dave Richey. The first snow maker was patented in 1961 by Alden Hanson.

[Platapus]

Hang on a moment here




A moment was a medieval unit of time. The movement of a shadow on a sundial covered 40 moments in a solar hour. A moment is about 90 seconds.

[Jimbuna]

It also snows on Mars and Venus, even though the snow on Venus is actually flakes of metal.

[Jimbuna]

The average snowflake is made up of 180 billion molecules of water, has six sides, and falls at a speed of 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) per hour.

[Platapus]

Wait a second


The term "second" comes from the "second minute division of an hour" meaning 1/60th of 1/60th of a hour. To measure smaller divisions in either time or degrees there are "thirds" (1/60th of 1/60th of 1/60 of a degree) and yes even "fourths" (1/60th of 1/60th of 1/60th of 1/60 of a degree)




These units are occasionally used in astronomy to denote angles

[Jimbuna]

Human hands have actually evolved to be able to do more damage with strike on our fists. Also, our faces have evolved to take a punch.

[Jimbuna]

The human brain is gradually shrinking. We may be getting smarter, but are brains are becoming more compact.

[Platapus]

Why is it called a World Series?


The real reason behind the name is thanks to Barney Dreyfuss who was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1903, he wrote to the owner of the Boston Red Sox challenging them to a ‘World’s Championship Series’. The Pirates were the best team in the National League and the Red Sox were the best in the American League.


The games went ahead and Boston won the series five games to three. Over time, the 'World’s Championship Series' name has been shortened to the World Series and has been played every year apart from 1904 and 1994.

[Jimbuna]

There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere right now than there has been in the last 800,000 years.

[Platapus]

A micromort is a unit of risk measuring a one-in-a-million probability of death.

[Jimbuna]

Since 1870, the sea levels around the globe have risen 8 inches due to ice melting at the polar caps.